U.S. Bank Tool Pulls In More Shippers For E-Invoicing Hub

U.S. Bank said on Monday (Oct. 6) that it has signed up more than 5,000 carriers to use the Freight Bill Lookup online tool for the bank’s freight-payment trade finance service.

The lookup application, which the bank introduced in May, allows freight carriers to view the status of shipping invoices online, download payment details for groups of invoices, and export information in Excel or CSV format for record keeping or to update payment information in a carrier’s receivables system. Carriers can also consolidate payment information from all shippers that use the U.S. Bank Freight Payment service, according to the bank.

The lookup tool also makes it easier for carriers to identify invoices that have been flagged as exceptions by the bank’s automated auditing system, so issues can be cleared through the system and the carriers can receive payment.

Along with the real-time lookup capability and a platform for resolving exception issues, the appeal of getting onboard for the U.S. Bank system is that they’re guaranteed to be paid. Once invoices are cleared, the bank pays the carriers and sends the shipper a consolidated invoice for all shipments made through the system. That eliminates the need for carriers to arrange their own factoring or other financing of the invoices.

The bank says the system can decrease days sales outstanding on a carrier’s freight invoices to five or less.

For the bank’s part, it needs to get a critical mass of carriers to make the Freight Payment service appealing as a consolidated financing service for shippers. That requires enough inducements to get carriers to file e-invoices into U.S. Bank’s systems, with invoice terms that can be handled by the bank’s auditing rules automation.

That critical mass of carriers, in turn, can be used to attract shippers, who pay for the bank’s e-invoicing hub and other financing services.

To use the service, carriers submit e-invoices which are then audited against a set of business rules. Exceptions are flagged and pulled out of the processing stream for issues to be cleared. Once issues have been resolved, the bank pays the carriers, and shippers pay the bank monthly on a consolidated freight invoice. The bank also offers other invoice-automation and financing services to customers through the e-invoicing hub.

In September, U.S. Bank expanded the freight-invoice trade finance service into Europe through its Elavon Freight Payment subsidiary. The European version, is is available on German, French or English-language platforms, includes VAT support and handling of other Europe-specific business, legal and regulatory requirements.